He has now been given the green light by the Swedish broadcast partner behind the global hit series.

"It feels very promising. Expectations are enormous and it is a big challenge to create a new season, but from what I have seen so far it feels like it lives up to those expectations," said SVT's head of drama, Christian Wikander.

The premiere date has not yet been set, but the eight episodes are expected to air at some point in 2018 in the Nordic countries.

Sofia Helin and Thure Lindhardt will both return as Swedish and Danish detectives Saga Norén and Henrik Sabroe in the new season, which kicks off around a year-and-a-half after the last episode.

"That's good because you can skip a lot, a lot may have happened," its Swedish writer Hans Rosenfeldt told the Expressen tabloid.

He said that he and his team of writers had abandoned the original plan of having the first scene and first murder take place on Halloween night, but assured viewers that they would not be disappointed.

"It will be the most nasty start The Bridge has had. It's a very unpleasant opening if we have our way. It's not certain that we will, but if we do get our way it will be the first time viewers will see what's going to happen."

When asked if the fourth season would be the final one he said: "You never know, but I think we'll probably be done after season four."